COVID-19 has affected work as we know it. Remote work, meetings and interviews are the new normal. Due to the consequences of quarantine, mental health, especially in working adults, has decreased dramatically and is a big issue. Companies must create environments with high morale and maintain productivity levels while understanding employee’s mental health. This is a new skill required for human resources management that has adapted due to the pandemic. COVID-19 makes it difficult for workflow go back to normal and adapting to its effects is something that is required now.

Many believe that remote work will become a permanent factor for many businesses. Some concerns human resources think about now, due to remote work, is how to create and enforce rules. It is difficult to know if employees are actually working or making their required marks in a company. Another concern is connectivity between workers and questions human resources must think about is how employees will receive the required equipment for working. It is difficult maintaining a workplace culture. It is harder to make an organization’s identity/mission known within a dispersed environment. Another way COVID-19 affects the workplace environment is through scarce employment. Due to the economic impacts of COVID-19, businesses can not hire many employees, especially full-time. Businesses will have to rely on temporary workers or contract workers. Another way the pandemic has impacted the work environment will be how people react to each other after the pandemic. According to the article “How the Coronavirus Pandemic Will Change the Way We Work” (Agovino, Ladika, Roepe, Sammer, & Zeidner, 2020) it advises that HR managers should be doing everything they can now, in the middle of the pandemic, to show appreciation to employees despite the challenges of the global pandemic. The expression of acknowledgement and thankfulness will help improve confidence/spirits with employees that need to hear gratitude for the work they have done in the middle of a global crisis. However, people will still be weary and H.R managers will have to understand the anxiety of the previous threat will take some time to dissipate. The pandemic has elevated the importance of human resources like never before. Leaders are now coming to them to address key decisions on a daily basis instead of them convincing leaders to consult with them. HR professionals play critical roles in organizations by leading them into the world of telework, virtual meetings, and guiding them through furloughs and layoffs. They are counted on to reshape the workplace for resistance and recovery. As the virus spread across the country, HR personnel collaborated with leaders and communication experts to help ease anxieties of the workforce and boost morale. This came in the form of sending employees tips on how to teach their children at home, how to cope with loneliness and depression, and how to set up a virtual doctor appointment. They helped many employees cope with a new normal.

The pandemic made HR rethink how they communicate with employees. Some organizations provided constant communication, leaving employees feeling prepared and confident. Others were slow to respond and did not provide enough guidance, leaving employees feeling anxious, confused, disconnected, and ignored. The best professionals maintained contact with individual employees. When this was not possible, employees were emailed to ask if they had questions. One outcome of this pandemic forced organizations to bring more humanity into the workplace. The business world is quite professional, but this event required the walls that were put up to come down. Workplace practices most likely will never be the same again. The pandemic has invented new ways for getting work done remotely. It has changed an environment that depends on culture and work processes built around face-to-face interactions. The pandemic forced a nationwide experiment with remote work with no prior warning. 71% of employees say that adapting to remote work was challenging. Now that organizations see it can be done, it most likely will continue on a broader scale even after the pandemic lets up. Dealing with COVID-19 will give disaster preparedness and business continuity planning increased importance.

References

Agovino, T., Ladika, S., Roepe, L. R., Sammer, J., & Zeidner, R. (2020, May 29). How the Coronavirus Pandemic Will Change the Way We Work. Retrieved from SHRM: https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/summer2020/Pages/how-the-coronavirus-pandemic-will-change-the-way-we-work.aspx